Are the Leonids Coming?Meteor showers often vary in intensity from year to year, presumably reflecting details of encountering the orbit of the parent comet.

One shower that normally is rather weak, but can at times be strong is the Leonids. As the preceding table indicates, on the average it only gives 10 meteors per hour---not even twice the sporadic rate. However, there is a prediction that the Leonids will grow stronger for the next two years and in 1998 (or perhaps 1999) will produce 10,000 or more per hour at the peak

(when the parent comet is near perihelion).

According to some estimates the rate will be as high as 40 meteors per second (!)

for a short period; a veritable meteor storm...For more Information, check out :